“She makes a lot of sense”
Haley’s straight-to-the-point attitude struck voter Joan Croteau. For her, two things stick out.
“No. 1: She’s a woman,” Croteau said. “No. 2: She’s honest.”
Croteau expanded: “We need a good Republican. I mean, the Republican we had with Trump—he’s just too chaotic, he causes too much anxiety. The way he talks is ridiculous. I like the way Nikki talks … She talks like a sensible human being.”
More than just liking Haley’s policies, Croteau admired Haley’s small-town campaign style, appreciating that she gets up close and personal with voters.
“It tells me she’s interested in every single person, that she just isn’t in it for the politics or the money, for the glamor, for the power … She’s in it because she’s interested in the people and she wants to help out.”
Mike Ressem, a New England native, had a more atypical reason for attending—he racks up meet-and-greets like this one because he hopes to eventually meet a future president.
“I’ve been coming here since 1992, and I try to meet all the presidential candidates I can—it’s a hobby of ours. We’ve met a lot of them,” Ressem said, recalling candidates that have made the cold trek to New Hampshire throughout his 30-year stretch.
Ressem said he’s keeping an open mind about who he plans on voting for, but his hobby helps him size up all the candidates and compare them to others from the past.
Over the years, Ressem has even had a few repeat interactions with politicians. He most recently met former president Bill Clinton when his wife, first lady Hillary Clinton, ran for the presidency in 2016. At the start of his hobby, Ressem caught up with Clinton during his 1992 election campaign.
He said he’s had a few nice chats with Clinton. He once asked Clinton a question the former president said he’d never fielded before.
“I said to Bill Clinton, ‘Well, what does your grandchildren call you?’ and he says to me, ‘Nobody’s ever asked me that before! Rodham, Hugh Rodham [Hillary Clinton’s father], was Pop Pop, now I’m Pop Pop!” Ressem said.
Though it’s unclear if Ressem will be able to cross Nikki Haley off his list of candidates he met before they became president, Ressem said he believes she has good potential.
“She’s very impressive … She makes a lot of sense, and I think she’s the most sane and the most competent one in the race. Even though I don’t agree with all of her policies, I’m a little bit more liberal minded than her, but she’s competent and reasonable and would make solid decisions.”
Haley has more than just people from the ‘Live Free or Die’ state backing her. Bolstering a hoard of campaign volunteers, both local and out-of-state, many helpers were scrambling around the event on Thursday, catching signatures and passing out rally signs.
Dressed in her brightest red, white and blue blazer and a large “Nikki Haley for President” button, Melinda Tourangeau, a larger-than-life campaign volunteer, has been cheering for Haley since the beginning.
“The day I heard Nikki speak for the first time, I was completely taken with her platform,” Tourangeau said. “It’s rational, it’s clear, she’s intelligent, she has experience to back it up and she means to do it.”
Tourangeau said her main concerns when voting include narrowing the political divide, growing the economy, securing the country’s borders, holding China accountable and supporting the military.
“She and I share a common bond: Both our husbands are in the military. I’m also a veteran, so I love her for her support of the military and veterans,” Tourangeau said. “I know she means to restore our military to greatness, and I’m just terribly excited about that.”
Associated Press reporter Holly Ramer said rallies like this one are nothing new for her—this is the seventh primary she’s covered with the wire service—but it’s still exciting.
“I’m not really a political junkie, but I enjoy getting out,” Ramer said. “Even though I’m a New Hampshire native, I enjoy seeing different parts of the state that I haven’t seen before and talking to people all over the state.”
While some reporters are hopping all over New Hampshire to cover different campaign events, Ramer has the advantage of living nearby while still getting doses of covering national news.
“This particular week between Iowa and New Hampshire is always crazy because we get so much more media from really all over the world, so that always fascinates me,” she said. “It’s busy and stressful, but I’m happy at the end of the day that I can sleep in my own bed because I live here already.”
Same cold, new setting
Two hours later, Haley greeted members of the public again but this time in a much smaller setting. Robie’s Country Store in Hooksett, New Hampshire, has been a frequent stop on political campaign trails since the 1960s. The spot serves breakfast and lunch items made with ingredients homegrown on the Robie family’s local farm.
The store’s walls tell stories of American history, with original signs from the campaigns of Lyndon B. Johnson, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, Gerald Ford and more.
The small bell on the business’ front door continuously chimed as Haley and Sununu greeted voters, their eyes wide at how many people packed in to see them.
At the conclusion of Haley’s two visits, voters were left with a mixture of hope for the future and concern about the unknown as they await Tuesday’s primary election. While polls show Haley trailing a few points behind Trump in New Hampshire, she took third in the Iowa Caucus, showing she hasn’t crossed the finish line yet.
Calling back to a song that boomed through loud speakers during Haley’s first event in Hollis, Sheryl Crow’s “Woman in the White House” hinted at Haley’s reason for running, straight from her mixed country/rock-and-roll playlist:
“It’s time we clean up Capitol Hill
With a shovel and a pair of high heels.
We’ve seen what the good ol’ boys can do,
Now it’s our turn to take a shot.”